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After all someone who says "Don't worry about pilling on, some guys just don't have the thick skin I have I can handle it." and then follows that statement with "Please do me a favor and put on ignore so I don't have to read your sensitive posts again, thank you." Can not be taken seriously.

It's just so irritating, it's borderline trolling without quite going over the line. I don't find it funny most of the time, and I'm not hearing anything new - he hates West, loves Tyler and wants us to trade our starters for Monta Ellis, Nene and Josh Smith. And until that happens our front office obviously isn't doing jack squat right? I get it. It's old. And if I want to read that style of posting (being provocative and negative just to get a reaction) there are tons of sites that offer that. They are a dime a dozen. Wait no they aren't a dime a dozen, it's basically the whole damn internet. I come here to avoid that kind of crap (or at least used to) - PD isn't perfect but the level of discussion is usually much higher, and the troll/eyeroll level much lower, than on other sites.

And yes I can take a joke, but if it's a joke it stopped being funny after it was told the two-hundredth time. I really don't think I'm being THAT sensitive, I have like 2 people on my ignore list.

So maybe he's right, I'm going to give it a try. Not like I won't constantly be running into all of your replies anyway lol.

Re: Donnie Walsh: "We have to go up a level"

Sorry, but I have to disagree with that statement. He played well in a Spurs uni. Well enough that the Spurs re-signed Diaw.

That speaks more to how good of a coach Popovich is than anything else. Cheeseburger Boris is STILL garbage, just slightly better garbage in the Spurs system.

"Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

"And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "
Want your own "Just Say No to Kamen" from @mkroeger pic? http://twitpic.com/a3hmca

Re: Donnie Walsh: "We have to go up a level"

It's just so irritating, it's borderline trolling without quite going over the line. I don't find it funny most of the time, and I'm not hearing anything new - he hates West, loves Tyler and wants us to trade our starters for Monta Ellis, Nene and Josh Smith. And until that happens our front office obviously isn't doing jack squat right? I get it. It's old. And if I want to read that style of posting (being provocative and negative just to get a reaction) there are tons of sites that offer that. They are a dime a dozen. Wait no they aren't a dime a dozen, it's basically the whole damn internet. I come here to avoid that kind of crap (or at least used to) - PD isn't perfect but the level of discussion is usually much higher, and the troll/eyeroll level much lower, than on other sites.

And yes I can take a joke, but if it's a joke it stopped being funny after it was told the two-hundredth time. I really don't think I'm being THAT sensitive, I have like 2 people on my ignore list.

So maybe he's right, I'm going to give it a try. Not like I won't constantly be running into all of your replies anyway lol.

Good luck. You'll be back!

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
- Benjamin Franklin

Re: Donnie Walsh: "We have to go up a level"

I haven't posted much lately, but did want to weigh in on Walsh returning and the roster changes that have been made thus far.

Like Peck, I am a little skeptical about the return of Walsh. I think Walsh accomplished a lot for our franchise, but eventually became very conservative in the moves that he was willing to make. I don't really care for how our salary structure played out nor the amounts given for re-signing our own players under his direction. There are a lot of things that I took exception with, and frankly, I was glad to see him leave and Larry take over. I believe Bird did an excellent job doing what he said he was going to do, namely waiting out our horrible contracts and making some improvements when opportunities presented themselves.

I wanted to see Bird return, but it just didn't work out. However, what we have done so far since Walsh's return I really believe was more along the lines of what Bird himself would have done if he had remained. I think Pritchard and Bird had a plan and that plan was carried out, with or without Bird's direct input when the changes were actually made. And, with Pritchard's presence as GM, I can only hope that from this point forward that it will be him, and not Walsh, who will call most of the shot's when it comes to personnel. At least, that is what I will believe until I see some evidence that leads me to conclude differently.

As for the roster changes made thus far, I don't have a problem with any of them. Last year, during the season, there were times that our starting lineup left us in a hole and the backups came in during the final minutes of the first quarter and picked us back up by the time the starters were back on the floor in the second quarter. There were times that the starters came out slowly, the backups did not help and we were not able to get back into the game until the second half. But more often than not, we were able to get back into most games after slow starts.

After Hill's insertion into the lineup, for whatever reason, the norm was that the starters were able to build decent leads with their time together on the floor during the first quarter. This continued throughout most games of the playoffs. With Hill's presence in the lineup, I can't really argue with the conclusion that our starters were capable of holding their own against any team in the league. I think TPTB concluded the same, with the result being that a generous offer was made to retain Hill.

So where did that leave us with improving our team? I think it left us exactly where TPTB took us. Find a way to make the backups compete better than what they were able to do in the playoffs. That can be accomplished in two ways.

Option 1 was/is to replace bench players with better players that are able to provide better post defense and scoring and improve the versatility of the perimeter players as well. This is the course of action that seemed to be taken by TPTB.

Option 2, which I was personally hoping for, would have been to acquire a starting player that was better than on of our current starting players, that would have resulted in the present starter coming off the bench, thereby improving the quality of the bench. And, then to fall back to Option 1 to strengthen some of the remaining bench positions.

Really, I would think that all of us were hoping for what I have defined as Option 2. It only makes sense, right? Well, if it makes that much sense to us, I would only think that it would also make sense to TPTB as well. I can therefore only conclude that Option 2 was in the Pacers plans all along. Option 2 just makes too much sense to reasonably think otherwise. But, just because that may have been what they wanted to do, doesn't necessarily mean that the the appropriate personnel were made available to them to get it done. Nor does it mean that a fair deal could be worked out to get it done.

I believe the Pacers looked into a few deals that they thought could improve our starting lineup, but that none could be worked out. I just don't think we will ever know about them because, well it's none of our business and teams just don't comment on players that they were not able to acquire.

So, I believe Walsh when he recognizes that we must do something to "get to the next level". I believe that he has Pritchard exploring ways to get it accomplished. I also believe that the timeline and salary information provided by shags and wintermute reasonably explain that the Pacers accomplished what they could with the timeline and restrictions that they were dealing with. We may disagree perhaps with the Plumlee as the draft choice or even some of the players that were acquired, but I have faith that in 3-4 months time, we will be pleased with the progress that has been made.

Whether some of our youngsters improve enough for out liking and the new bench performs better only time will tell. But if not, we can always look forward to seeing what Pritchard can do with the last two roster slots and what he can accomplish leading up to the February trade deadline.

-------

As for problematic posters, I think Mattie once stated it best. Paraphrasing, the "Ignore" feature would work a whole lot better if some of guys would quit posting the 2-3 folks that I presently have on "Ignore".

Re: Donnie Walsh: "We have to go up a level"

It's just so irritating, it's borderline trolling without quite going over the line. I don't find it funny most of the time, and I'm not hearing anything new - he hates West, loves Tyler and wants us to trade our starters for Monta Ellis, Nene and Josh Smith. And until that happens our front office obviously isn't doing jack squat right? I get it. It's old. And if I want to read that style of posting (being provocative and negative just to get a reaction) there are tons of sites that offer that. They are a dime a dozen. Wait no they aren't a dime a dozen, it's basically the whole damn internet. I come here to avoid that kind of crap (or at least used to) - PD isn't perfect but the level of discussion is usually much higher, and the troll/eyeroll level much lower, than on other sites.

And yes I can take a joke, but if it's a joke it stopped being funny after it was told the two-hundredth time. I really don't think I'm being THAT sensitive, I have like 2 people on my ignore list.

So maybe he's right, I'm going to give it a try. Not like I won't constantly be running into all of your replies anyway lol.

Re: Donnie Walsh: "We have to go up a level"

no.. but no one else on here i see is saying ryan anderson is a better or equal to the player David West is. David West is an all-star level player, but dont let those facts stop you from these delusional statements.

overall West is hands down the better player. West can get 20 10 for this team but he plays his role. which is a veteran leader and gives this team some toughness in the paint to match with Hibbert.

I honestly cannot take you seriously after this post unless you have some sort of logical response to support your opinion.

David West is a much better player and fit overall for the Pacers team than Ryan Anderson is. that guy was a joke in the series vs the pacers. problem with three point shooters like anderson is they are streaky. give me a player like West any day of the week and twice on Sunday before a start a team with anderson over West.

** lets return the thread to some sort of respectability and get back on track here... cause ryan anderson is not the player that will take us a "level up"

Re: Donnie Walsh: "We have to go up a level"

no.. but no one else on here i see is saying ryan anderson is a better or equal to the player David West is. David West is an all-star level player, but dont let those facts stop you from these delusional statements.

overall West is hands down the better player. West can get 20 10 for this team but he plays his role. which is a veteran leader and gives this team some toughness in the paint to match with Hibbert.

I honestly cannot take you seriously after this post unless you have some sort of logical response to support your opinion.

David West is a much better player and fit overall for the Pacers team than Ryan Anderson is. that guy was a joke in the series vs the pacers. problem with three point shooters like anderson is they are streaky. give me a player like West any day of the week and twice on Sunday before a start a team with anderson over West.

** lets return the thread to some sort of respectability and get back on track here... cause ryan anderson is not the player that will take us a "level up"

gimme a break please.

Every 1 stopped taking you serious after you said Rush cant shoot 3s well.

Re: Donnie Walsh: "We have to go up a level"

The issue I have with his perfomance in that series is in the context of the moment. After Bosh was injured and the Heat started playing small ball with undersized & under skilled post players it was key that West seize the opportunity.

We kind of get into a catch 22 here. It has been recognized over and over that our guards did not do a good job feeding the post, so some of the blame for not "seizing the moment" has to fall on their shoulders. I don't know where to look it up, but I keep wondering how many shots Roy got during some of those games. Better post feeds could have led to a difference.

Re: Donnie Walsh: "We have to go up a level"

We kind of get into a catch 22 here. It has been recognized over and over that our guards did not do a good job feeding the post, so some of the blame for not "seizing the moment" has to fall on their shoulders. I don't know where to look it up, but I keep wondering how many shots Roy got during some of those games. Better post feeds could have led to a difference.

It was so glaringly obvious when the Heat played Boston the next round and you could see how perfectly Rondo and Pierce set up KG in the post. My hope is that Hill becomes more comfortable feeding the big guys and Augustine can bring something.

Re: Donnie Walsh: "We have to go up a level"

Not feeding the post well was a contributing issue but there are many other ways to dominate smaller, less skilled players than simply catching a well executed entry pass in the post.

Beat them up on the offensive glass and finish with put-backs. Catch the ball out higher and use your strength with the basketball to get into position to score. Limit them to one shot by owning the defensive glass.

Honestly, I expected Hibbert to be inconsistent and a little slow to take advantage. West on the other hand is a smart veteran who allowed himself to be outworked by smaller players & allowed himself to be "schemed" out of the most important game in the series.

It's called asserting your will on the game. At this point in the teams development West & Granger are the only two guys capable of doing it on any level. They failed.